The_Open_Door_deel1

1
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concession agreement with a former U.S. Secretary of State,
Edward Stettinius. The general objective of the company
established, The Liberia Company, was the development of the
human and material resources of the country. Its specific goals
were virtually identical with those of the (defunct) Liberian
Development Company, Ltd, of Sir Harry Johnston and strikingly
resembled the objectives of the Five-Year Development Plan which
could not be implemented (see for more details Chapters L and
10).
In the same year, 1947, the term "Open Door Policy" was for
the first time used by the Tubman Administration, The Press
Release of September 1947, issued after the signing of the
agreement with Stettinius expressed the hope that
"(...) people of all races and nations who have either
skills or funds to employ in any specific projects for
the development of LiLerian resources will come in
(..), LiLerians will always come first to the extent
of their availaLle contriLutions but the policy of the
open door is to Le followedJ,.,)" (154)
Consequently, formally at least, Liberia had an Open Door Policy
in 1947, a century after the creation of the Republic. The
numerous threats to its political independence had made previous
Administrations seek political protection in the form of an
"Open Door Policy" for which the policy of McKinley-Hay served
as a model. The failure of foreign loans to benefit Liberia and
the failure of the Liberian Government to implement a policy of
"internal development" are to be mentioned as the main causes
for the introduction of an (economic) Open Door Policy with the
primary object of attracting foreign investors ("of all races
and nations"), Not without danger though, (loss of sovereignty)
as Liberia finvited and subsequently had to deal with companies
which were bigger and more powerful than the underdeveloped
Republic, It should, however, be borne in mind that in 1944
virtually all of the country's revenues and expenditures were
controlled by the U.S.A., and that the republic was economically
and financially dominated by the Firestone Plantation Company
and the Bank of Monrovia, respectively. This bank, a Firestone
subsidiary, had in 1930 become the only bank in the country
after the withdrawal of the Bank for British West Africa. Last
but not least, Liberia's Frontier Force was under the command of
a U.S. Army officer. Thus, it was not a coincidence that
three important investors Firestone, Christie, and Stettinius,
all of them came from the U.S.A. The Government of that country
had in 1942 obtained a military.base in Liberia, and later
granted a loan with the proceeds of which the Port of Monrovia
was constructed and a railway built. This made the exploitation
and exportation of the Bomi Hills iron ore by Christie's
"Liberia Mining Company" possible. The decision of President
Edwin Barclay to adopt the U.S. dollar as the (sole) legal tender
in Liberia as from December 31, 1943 symbolizes very clearly the
political orientation of the first African Republic, as well as
its financial and economic dependence.